I have no idea who the Sarah Palin is of video games nor the Barack Obama of video games

“I have no idea who the Sarah Palin is of video games nor the Barack Obama of video games. But Gabe Zicherman, chairman of the Gamification Summit knows who the gaming Tea Party is: people who don't like gamification.”These tea partiers are game designers,” Zicherman wrote earlier this week on the Huffington Post. “Their target isn't a replica Concord 0310715 WoMen's watch black President and changing society, but a growing trend in design and marketing called gamification.”Gamification, as it's defined by its proponents, is the addition of game-like systems on top of everyday activities.

Sounds dry, unless you listened to this big Gamepocalypse speech earlier this year or until you find yourself checking into Foursquare to win achievements for the feat of just being somewhere. Do you dream of the future in which people are encouraged to eat healthier food thanks to the same systems of encouragement and reward that compel a replica Concord 0310888 WoMen's watch gamer to reach level 85 of World of Warcraft?Who is against this? Those who are afraid, Zicherman writes.”I don't see genuine arguments against the [gamification] movement or its power to change the world. All I hear are the angry ramblings of some scared old, white people who suddenly woke up and found out they no longer run the country.

“This tea party roster includes those who got “gamification” removed from Wikipedia. They include writer and game-maker Margaret Robertson, whose essay against gamification we recently republished (Choice quote in her piece: “What we're currently terming gamification is in fact the process of taking the thing that is least essential to replica Concord Bella Ponte WoMen's games and representing it as the core of the experience.”)Also in the video game Tea Party is Chris Hecker, who we've written positively about. (Hecker's offending anti-gamification Tweet directed at Sony's PlayStation 3 rewards program ended with the “ gamification”).Are we here at Kotaku are enabling this gaming Tea Party? Sorry/you're-welcome.